Search All 1 Records in Our Collections

The Museum’s Collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through artifacts, documents, photos, films, books, personal stories, and more. Search below to view digital records and find material that you can access at our library and at the Shapell Center.

Videotape testimony of Jona J., who was born in Čaňa, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1928, one of six children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; attending public and Jewish schools; Hungarian occupation; a round-up by Hungarian police; deportation to Košice, then Auschwitz; remaining with one brother; learning of the gas chambers; observing huge fires and smelling a noxious odor; realizing his family had been killed; transfer two weeks later to Kittlitztreben; slave labor building bunkers; Polish non-Jews sharing extra food; hospitalization for pneumonia; obtaining a privileged kitchen assignment after recovering; bringing extra food to his uncle; public hanging of prisoners who attempted an escape; his brother leaving with the evacuation in February 1945; liberation by Soviet troops a few days later; working for the Soviets until May; returning home seeking relatives; finding one cousin; learning his brother had been killed and one sister was in Sweden; moving to Košice; joining Hashomer Hatzair; and illegal emigration to Palestine via Prague and Antwerp. Mr. J. discusses fear that his family would suffer if he fled, and losing his belief in God during the war.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.